Page 7 - D Y Chandrachud

Lawyers commenting on pending cases, judgments disturbing trend: CJI

The judiciary has broad shoulders and can take praise as well as criticism in its stride, but the recent tendency of lawyers to comment on pending cases or judgments is very disturbing, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has said. Office-bearers and members of the bar should not forget while reacting to judicial decisions that they are officers of the court and not laypersons, he said. The CJI was speaking at the centenary year celebration of the High Court Bar Association of Nagpur on Friday. The judiciary has time and again risen to the occasion to assert its independence and non-partisanship, Justice Chandrachud said. "We must not forget, however, that there is a close link between the independence of the judiciary and independence of the bar," he said. The bar as an institution is essential to preserve judicial independence, constitutional values and dignity of the court, the CJI added. In a vibrant and argumentative democracy like India, most individuals have political .

Probe agencies must have balance between search, seizure powers: CJI

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud on Monday said there is a need to have a "delicate balance" between the search and seizure powers vested with investigative agencies like the CBI and an individual's right to privacy. The CJI was delivering his keynote address at the 20th D P Kohli memorial lecture in the memory of the first director of the federal probe agency. In the realm of criminal justice, the delicate balance between search and seizure powers and individual privacy rights stands and this is at the cornerstone of a fair and just society, Justice Chandrachud said. He added that at the heart of this balance lies the need to uphold due process. The CJI also flagged "unwarranted" confiscation of personal devices, saying there was a pressing need to strike a balance between investigative imperatives and individual privacy rights. He also asked the investigative agencies to "pick their battles", saying instead of spreading out too thinly in various cases, they should ..

SC refuses to stay Hindu prayers in southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi even as it ordered a "status quo" on the religious observances by both the Hindu and Muslim sides inside the mosque premises. The court was hearing a fresh plea of the Gyanvapi mosque management committee against an Allahabad High Court decision upholding a lower court's order allowing Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the mosque. The top court noted that both the Muslim and Hindu sides have been conducting their respective religious observances "unhindered" inside the mosque premises and, therefore, a status quo would serve the ends of justice for now. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also sought the response of priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas by April 30 on the plea of the mosque committee. "Bearing in mind the fact that the namaz is offered by the Muslim community unhindered after the orders dated January 17, 2024 and January 31, 2024,

To browbeat, bully others is Cong culture: PM on lawyers' letter to CJI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said it is a "vintage Congress culture" to browbeat and bully others, remarks that came in reaction to more than 600 lawyers writing to the Chief Justice of India, alleging that a "vested interest group" is trying to put pressure on the judiciary and defame courts. "To browbeat and bully others is vintage Congress culture. 5 decades ago itself they had called for a "committed judiciary" - they shamelessly want commitment from others for their selfish interests but desist from any commitment towards the nation," Modi said on X. "No wonder 140 crore Indians are rejecting them," the prime minister said and tagged a post that carried the letter written by the lawyers. More than 600 lawyers, including senior advocate Harish Salve and Bar Council chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra, wrote to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, alleging that a "vested interest group" is trying to put pressure on the judiciary and defame courts, especially in cases of

Lawyers write to CJI against groups trying to 'pressure' judiciary

A group of lawyers, including senior advocate Harish Salve and Bar Council of India chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra, have written to the Chief Justice of India, alleging that a "vested interest group" is trying to pressure the judiciary and defame courts "on the basis of frivolous logic and stale political agendas". "Their pressure tactics are most obvious in political cases, particularly those involving political figures accused of corruption. These tactics are damaging to our courts and threaten our democratic fabric," their letter, dated March 26, addressed to CJI D Y Chandrachud said. The letter, shared by official sources, targeted a section of lawyers without naming them and alleged that they defend politicians by the day and then try to influence judges through the media at night. This interest group creates false narratives of a supposed better past and golden period of courts, contrasting it with the happenings in the present, the letter said, claiming that their comments ar

Was trolled and abused for changing seating position, says CJI Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday recalled a recent incident of him facing 'trolling' and 'vicious abuse' for adjusting his seating position, during a hearing due to a discomfort and highlighted the need for judicial officers to manage stress and ensure work-life balance. He was speaking after inaugurating the 21st Biennial State Level Conference of Judicial Officers titled, "Equity and Excellence for Futuristic Judiciary", organised by the Karnataka State Judicial Officer's Association. Speaking on work-life balance and stress management, which was one of the topics of the two-day conference, he said the capacity to manage stress is significant in the life of a judge, especially for district judges. As judicial officers they regularly engage with vulnerable litigants. Many of the people who come to the courts are stressed about the injustice caused to them, he said. "Sometimes in their dealings with us as judges, they cross the line. As Chief Justice of India, I s

Preventive detention based on capricious exercise of powers must stop: SC

Observing that preventive detention is a draconian measure and any such move based on a capricious or routine exercise of powers must be nipped in the bud, the Supreme Court has set aside a Telangana High Court order rejecting a detenu's appeal. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday said the essential concept of preventive detention is that the detention of a person is not to punish him for something he has done but to prevent him from doing it. "Inability on the part of the state's police machinery to tackle the law-and-order situation should not be an excuse to invoke the jurisdiction of preventive detention," the bench also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said. "Preventive detention being a draconian measure, any order of detention as a result of a capricious or routine exercise of powers must be nipped in the bud. It must be struck down at the first available threshold," the top court said. The appellant was arrested under

SC sets aside order directing Bloomberg to take down defamatory article

The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a trial court's order directing international media group Bloomberg to take down an allegedly defamatory news article against Zee Entertainment. The top court was hearing a plea filed by Bloomberg against the March 14 order of the Delhi High Court, which dismissed its appeal against the trail court order. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the error committed by the trial judge had been perpetuated by the high court. "The error committed by the trial judge had been perpetuated by the high court. Merely recording that a prima-facie case exists for a grant of injunction, the balance of convenience lies in Zee's favour and that an irreparable injury would be caused would not amount to application of mind in the case," the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said while granting liberty to Zee to approach the trial court afresh with its prayer seeking injunction. Reacting on the apex court ord

SBI 'duty bound' to disclose electoral bond number: Supreme Court

SBI shared the data with the EC on March 12, following a Supreme Court directive, which allowed the EC until 5 PM on March 15 to upload the information on its website

SC recommends names of 6 lawyers for appointment as judges of Kerala HC

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended to the Centre the names of six advocates for appointment as judges of the Kerala High Court. The Collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, also recommended that judicial officer Mohammad Yousuf Wani be appointed as an additional judge of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. "In view of the above, the Collegium resolves to recommend that Abdul Hakhim Mullappally Abdul Aziz, Syam Kumar Vadakke Mudavakkat, Harisankar Vijayan Menon, Manu Sreedharan Nair, Easwaran Subramani and Manoj Pulamby Madhavan, advocates, be appointed as judges of the High Court of Kerala. Their inter se seniority be fixed as per the existing practice," said one of the Collegium resolutions uploaded on the apex court website. Regarding one of the recommended names, it said, "The report of the government notes that nothing adverse has come to notice regarding the integrity of the candidate. ..

SC to consider listing of plea on restraining Centre to appoint new ECs

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will consider submission for early listing of a petition seeking to restrain the Centre from appointing new election commissioners as per a 2023 law, the provisions of which have already been challenged in the apex court. Two vacancies of election commissioners have arisen following the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel and Anup Chandra Pandey's retirement. Send an email. We will see, said the bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra. The plea was mentioned for urgent listing by senior advocate Vikas Sigh and advocate Varun Thakur, appearing for the Congress leader Jaya Thakur. The local Congress leader has challenged the provisions of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and terms of office) Act, 2023. In her application, Thakur informed the court that during the pendency of her plea, in which a notice was issued on ..

Mutual fraternity is necessary to maintain equality in country: CJI

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday said mutual fraternity is necessary to maintain equality in the country. Addressing a state-level 'Hamara Samvidhan Hamara Samman' campaign in Bikaner, the CJI asked how will the country progress if people fight with each other. "We should have respect for each other in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution," he said. Justice Chandrachud said that "human dignity was of supreme importance in the minds of the makers of our Constitution". "Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, ensured that the Constitution promoted the values of justice, liberty and equality as well as the spirit of fraternity and dignity of the individual," he added. Justice Chandrachud said what it means to say is that "mutual brotherhood is necessary to maintain equality in the country. "How will the country progress if people fight each other? Therefore, when we say 'Our Constitution, Our Honour', we also have to emphasize that

Mutual fraternity necessary for equality in country: CJI Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday said mutual fraternity is necessary to maintain equality in the country. Addressing a state-level 'Hamara Samvidhan Hamara Samman' campaign in Bikaner, the CJI asked how will the country progress if people fight with each other. "We should have respect for each other in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution," he said. Justice Chandrachud said that "human dignity was of supreme importance in the minds of the makers of our Constitution". "Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, ensured that the Constitution promoted the values of justice, liberty and equality as well as the spirit of fraternity and dignity of the individual," he added. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) said that many efforts are being made to improve the condition of district courts. "We want to sensitize the district courts because this is the first step towards justice. We are making many efforts to improve the condition of the dist

SC hears case on Parliament's authority over state taxes on mineral rights

The original case dates back to 1992, when the Bihar government, through an amendment, imposed additional taxes on land revenue coming from mineral-bearing lands leased out to mining industries

SC strikes down electoral bond scheme as 'unconstitutional', against rights

Orders EC to disclose donors, amount & recipients by March 13

SC verdict on electoral bond: Everything you need to know about it

In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on Thursday annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, saying it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information. But what exactly are electoral bonds? An electoral Bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties as has been first pronounced by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2017-18. According to the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018, an electoral bond is a bond issued in the nature of a promissory note, which shall be bearer in character. A bearer instrument is one which does not carry the name of the buyer or payee, no ownership information is recorded and the holder of the instrument (i.e. political party) is presumed to be its owner, explains Association for Democratic Reforms. The scheme allows individuals -- who are citizens of India -- and domestic companies to donate these bonds issued in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 la

Govt must stop implementing such ideas in future: Kharge on electoral bond

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court decision to strike down the electoral bonds scheme and hoped the government will stop resorting to "such mischievous ideas" in the future. He said the Congress party had called the scheme "opaque and undemocratic" when it was launched. Subsequently, in the 2019 manifesto, the Congress promised to scrap the Modi government's "dubious scheme". "We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court today, which has struck down this 'Black Money Conversion' scheme of the Modi Government, calling it 'Unconstitutional'. "We remember how the Modi Govt, PMO and FM bulldozed every institution - RBI, Election Commission, Parliament and Opposition to fill BJP's coffers. No wonder, 95% of the funding under this scheme was received by BJP," Kharge said in a post in X. "We hope that Modi Government will stop resorting to such mischievous ideas in future and listens to the Supreme Court, so that Democracy, Transparency and ...

Electoral Bond Scheme: Rs 16,518 crore collected till date, Centre told LS

Electoral Bonds scheme verdict: On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down the scheme and called it 'unconstitutional'

SC says electoral bonds unconstitutional, asks SBI to submit all details

Electoral bonds scheme: The apex court has asked the SBI to give all details of donations via electoral bonds to ECI, which will have to publish it on its website by March 31

SC issues notice to central govt on GST anti-profiteering provisions

Petitioner appeals against Delhi HC order upholding provisions; more companies may approach apex court